When any one of the thousand enemies attack, mouse civilisation has only one line of defence

Tuesday, 1 September 2015

The beginning of the Carlyle Cops

The cops in Carlyle were formed before the Mecha Corp was ever even conceived, they are the senior service. Their origin is remembered in oral lore and is always tied to the name of Sandy-hole. Sandy-hole was one of the original enlightened ones, those that brought the first communes into being, and it was his decree that formed the first police force.

The communes early days were filled with strife, both that caused by the thousand enemies and that wrought by mice used to self sufficiency and going-it-alone. The adjustment to communal life was hard. For in all of mousekind's history no family had ever helped another, the words of the enlightened were difficult to believe, and so Sandy-hole formed a sacred brotherhood of mice to settle disputes for the betterment of the commune.

The brotherhood's members had to give up their family and act as mediators and yes, even pacifiers when mouse could not agree with mouse. If a mouse could not accept the commune's agreement the brotherhood had the duty of finding them a new homestead and escorting them from the island.

In time, as the generations passed and communal life on Searbay came naturally to its inhabitants, the brotherhood's role changed to that of watch-keeper. Now they are known as the police (or sometimes cops) and they patrol the streets keeping trouble to a minimum, helping those in need, and standing ever ready to protect the city.